393 and an AOD

[TONYD]

Jim,

The reason i would stay with a lock up convertor is simple.. and several fold..

First , if you get the correct Lentech valve body it will by the modification they make eliminate lockup in drive and only keep lockup in OD... In doing this they take care of one of the aod 's primary weakness's... Their valve body allows the trans to lock the drive and reverse clutches in drive thereby DOUBLING the TORQUE capacity.. (and this eliminates the lockup in drive) This also allows you to keep the two piece input shaft (of course it needs to be upgraded to a solid on the small inner shaft)

SECOND , This allows you to run a much looser or more aggresive convertor since you still have lockup in OD...

Third, This cuts heat drastically at cruise speed by keeping the lockup which eliminates the additional heat created by the slipping action of a non lockup convertor when using the one piece input shaft..



HOTRODDIN,

Like i said ART CARR is just a big name.. I am not saying that some of there stuff isn't good but I and several others just in my little area of Texas have had MAJOR problems with aod's that were built completly by art and I have had major mis information given to me by them as well on the aode trans.. Their shift kit for a aode is a joke for the price and looks like something a good tranny man could come up with in a few minutes... They told me they could fix a problem i had with using a different gear set in a aode by a chip... Then i ordered and they billed my credit card for it and then a month after they kept promising a chip any day they finally tell me they CAN NOT solve my problem(computer could not recognize the different od ratio and thought the convertor clutch was slipping which set a code and then the lockup would not work)) .. and it took them nearly 2 months to credit my card and then tried to charge a 20 percent restock fee when they never delivered the part... NOW they did eventually get it corrected but it was a major hassle..

I would also not spit on LEVEL 10 or PA either.. They have both screwed me and lots of others around..

BUT this is just my experiences and others i know and if you like them then good luck.. But i will NEVER purchase anything from them..

BigT

[jim_howard_pdx]

I should not be smashing on Art Carr stuff, like I said they have a good reputation for street transmissions.

Personally, I know of no world record holders ever using an Art Carr transmission. If you know of one, great! In the 9 and 10 second brackets where I and my buddies competed it was A 1 and B&M that cooked up our transmissions.

When it comes to dragsters and the early unlimiteds that eventually became known as Pro Stock, the majority I spoke with were running Jerico and Lenco transmissions. Some were using torque converters with the Manual 3 or 4 speeds. That way they could jam gears without any time loss from clutching.

Look, I don't profess to know it all, but Art Carr was not the place I went to help me build a consistent low 9 second transmission. A 1 had it all. Trans brakes, custom converters, full manual valve bodies, blow proof internals, strengthened drums, racing steels, and racing clutches. I had one failure in 3 years at 9.2 and that was a cracked C-6 case. Things like this happen when you run an aluminum case behind nearly 700 ft pounds of torque.